India's Golden Chariot train from Bangalore to Goa is rail heaven

Sometimes, when I hear about friends' children doing budget trips
around India, staying in hostels costing £1 a night, I start
to feel a little misty-eyed and nostalgic about my lost backpacking
youth.

However, that feeling melted away when I stayed in the five-star Leela
Palace Hotel in Bangalore before boarding the Golden Chariot train for
a taste of the culture and sights of Karnataka province.

Viv takes in the ruins of the 14th Century city of Hampi...

I had two days at the hotel before the train left and the temptation to crash out was overwhelming. So I lazed around by the lovely pool and ate superb food in the hotel's Zen and Jamavar restaurants.

I did manage to venture out to an eco-resort called Our Native Village, a 90-minute drive from the central hub of Bangalore, where I politely declined cow-milking classes but had a soul-deep, rejuvenating sound massage that involved being buffeted by waves of sound emanating from a plucked instrument under the bed I was lying on. Very weird, but definitely wonderful.

All passengers had to check in for the Golden Chariot at a desk set up within the Leela Palace.

Then, as our luggage was whisked away, my guilt at having seen very little of Bangalore was assuaged by a short sightseeing trip - organised by the train people - to the somewhat shabby Palace of Tipu Sultan, dating from the 1790s. It is an ornate wooden structure with pillars, arches, balconies and ceilings, all once painted in luminous colours.

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As the train's 16 passengers started the bonding process, we also walked round the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens which house India's largest collection of rare tropical plants. The Golden Chariot was then waiting for us at Bangalore's Yeshwantpur railway station.

Garlands were hung round our necks and cold drinks and moist towels
handed out before we were claimed by our various stewards and shown to
our cabins on the train.

If you are sharing, there is very little room to hang clothes but
the beds are comfortable and the bathroom is cleverly designed with a
very efficient shower.

There are two ornately decorated dining cars with very fast service.

But
the Western-style food isn't great, so it is best to stick to the local
delicacies such as the curries ( vegetarian and meat), breads,
different kinds of rice and imaginative chutneys all presented in
numerous small bowls on individual large silver plates.

The price of alcohol on the train, though, is eye-popping with even a large local beer working out at about £6.

Viv Creegor is welcomed on board the Golden Chariot Train in Bangalore...

Travelling time on the train varies from day to day and sometimes you are asleep in the dead of night when it moves.

That first evening we reached Mysore at midnight. At 10am, having packed an overnight bag, we departed by coach for Kabini River Lodge, nestling on the fringes of the Nagarahole and Bandipur National Parks, which was once the hunting lodge of the Mysore Maharajas.

Accommodation here is comfortable enough, but basic. We were taken out in specially adapted viewing boats and saw enough birds - cormorants, osprey, peacocks and crested serpent eagles - to keep a twitcher happy for years.

We circled slowly around a stricken elephant who, we learnt, had been in the water for days. Rangers were aware that he was injured but there was little they could do to help.

Back at the lodge, we had a buffet lunch in the open-air dining area and then took to Jeeps for close-up viewing on land.

A huge Asian elephant, with such enormous tusks that they met in the middle, took no notice of us as we peered at him from just 20 yards away.

Black-faced monkeys performed their circus-style acrobatics way up in the trees and Indian bison, or gaur, grazed lazily.

And then, great excitement. A leopard slunk lazily from the trees and crossed right in front of us, at which point a mobile phone rang. The leopard, unfazed, seemed not to hear.

To our astonishment, the woman within our group whose phone it was answered it. Our disapproving glares had no effect whatsoever.

Dinner was once again a buffet of local food with the spices kept to
a minimum for Western tastes. Then I picked my way back to my room with
snorts and grunts emanating from the bushes on either side of the
track.

A voice called out from the darkness: 'Hello, lady on the path -
wild boar in front of you.' I didn't know I could run that quickly.

From the hunting lodge of the Mysore Maharajas it is possible to get up close to some of India's most spectacular wildlife

Lodge staff were banging on our doors the next morning at six with
offers of tea. Breakfast followed at 7.30 and we then left Kabini for
Mysore Palace. This has been rightfully called one of India's national
treasures but surprisingly it is less than 100 years old as an earlier
palace burnt down in 1897.

'Over the top' might best describe the interior but I was still
awestruck by the Maharaja's dressing room with its solid silver chairs
and the private audience room with some truly sensational stained glass.

Close
to nightfall we arrived at the beautifully landscaped Brindavan
Gardens, which were heaving with Indian and Western tourists. As dusk
fell, the gardens and fountains became especially enchanting under a
burst of dazzling lights.

Then it was up to the Royal Orchid Hotel, which overlooks Brindavan, for a buffet dinner as local dancers entertained us.

Back at the Golden Chariot I peered out of my cabin in the middle of
the night and saw groups of people sleeping on the platform right under
my window. I sighed guiltily as I got back into my comfortable bed.

The train moved off at 6am and reached our next destination, Hassan,
twoanda-half hours later. We were going to the 'Golden Triangle' of
South Karnataka, the sites of Shravanabelagola, Belur and Halebid.

Before the sun got too fierce we needed to climb the 700 steep and
uneven steps of the Indragiri Hill that led up to the massive statue of
the Jain saint Gomateshwara.

If you are not up to it, though, there are Indian porters who will
carry you up. I couldn't do it to those poor souls, not without feeding
them a substantial meal and a couple of energy drinks first anyway.

So I chose to slog it out to the top and was rewarded with the sight
of perhaps the tallest monolithic structure in the world. How it was
actually erected (in the 10th Century) is anyone's guess.

The Mysore Palace

At Belur and Halebid we marvelled at the extraordinary carvings (no two of which are the same) on the Hindu temples which are gems of Indian architecture.

That night the train rattled through the countryside from South to North Karnataka, arriving at Hospet at 6am.

At breakfast I read a headline in The Times of India newspaper that said: 'Mysore man kills wife suspecting fidelity.' Sometimes we women just can't win.

That day we went to see the ruins of Hampi, often called the world's largest open-air museum. The city once had opulent palaces, impressive temples, massive fortifications, markets, aqueducts and pavilions. If you half shut your eyes in the shimmering heat you could almost imagine the hustle and bustle of a populated 14th Century city.

We had time to tour a local crafts bazaar, the only time the itinerary allows for proper shopping. In the early evening, we went to Hampi's crowning glory, the Vithala Temple, where we saw the famous stone chariot (after which the train was named) standing in the courtyard and watched lights come on at dusk within the temple edifice.

Badami was our penultimate destination, picturesquely situated at the mouth of a ravine between two red sandstone cliffs. Within those cliffs are the sculpted temple caves, connected by a steep flight of stairs, that we'd come to see.

Cave one is a Shiva temple, cave two is flanked by celestial guardians and pot-bellied dwarfs, and cave three - perhaps the most magnificent - is famous for the great figure of Vishnu seated on a coiled snake.

Sniff and taste your way through different flavours at the Sahakari Spice Farm

The skill of the craftsmen who created these temples in the 6th Century by chipping away at the red sandstone takes your breath away and for me it was the highlight of our journey.

That night we all congregated in the Golden Chariot bar. It was the evening before our last day and nearly all the passengers were going their separate ways when we arrived in Goa, with just three of us travelling back to Bangalore.

Goa didn't disappoint. We began with the magnificent Portuguese churches of Old Goa, which we first saw from a wonderful vantage point way up in the hills.

We then visited the Se Cathedral and the Basilica of Bom Jesus, the latter known throughout the Catholic world as it contains the remains of St Francis Xavier who brought Christianity to the Portuguese colonies.

Lunch was provided by the Sahakari Spice Farm after which we sniffed and tasted our way through samples of cardamom, coffee, saffron, turmeric, cumin and many others before deciding which ones to buy.

And what was the perfect way to end a day in Goa? Flat out on a sunlounger by the sea, watching the sunset while sipping an ice-cold beer.

This was my second visit to India but my first time sightseeing by train. Similar to cruise ships, it gives you a base with no packing and unpacking of suitcases.

The train's blurb calls it 'a mosaic of experiences' and I wouldn't disagree. I loved it.